Movie Review #2: “Pitch Perfect 2”

“You’re Beca Effin’ Mitchell! You’re the big B.M! You’re the most talented person I know. And I’ve met three of the Wiggles… intimately.”

WOOOOOOOH get ready for another underdeveloped and rushed comedic sequel! Pitch Perfect 2 (A.K.A. Glee ripoff 2) follows a long line of comedy sequels that fail to deliver on the laughs that the first one was filled with. This time actress, Elizabeth Banks, takes the realm as director and makes it clear that she should’ve stayed in front of the screen. While the first movie created likable and unique characters and was filled with a surprising amount of passion and heart, the sequel features a wide array of cliche racist, sexist and stereotypical jokes that do nothing but fill running time.

The same charismatic gals that you loved and adored in the first movie return in the sequel of the surprise smash hit, but unfortunately their jokes don’t follow them this time. This time around the Barden Bellas must compete in the incredibly competitive Acapella World Competition in order to regain their dignity and reign as best Acapella group back. But the gals must battle the super retro German Acapella group and also their own conflicts in order to take back the reigns. I personally enjoyed this story-line, but unfortunately this only takes up around 30 minutes of screen-time, while the rest of the movie is filled with terrible Fat Amy jokes, pointless new character’s and a whole separate story-line about Beca’s (Anna Kendrick) new internship.

Now what I enjoyed so much about the first movie was the unexpected hilarious characters that were pleasant to watch as the story grew. This time around those character’s all receive a backseat to Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) and her typical “Fat Amy” jokes. Her character worked in the first movie as a co-star and her jokes seemed somewhat original then, but the writers failed to do anything different with her jokes as she once again plays the exact character with no growth what so ever. The other supporting characters that stood out so much during the first movie, fail to replicate any of that success in the sequel much like Fat Amy.

Besides the characters, what made the first movie so special was the entertaining music that made every audience bob up in down in excitement. This time around unfortunately the music falls flat…..very flat. The riff-offs and competition segments seemed forced and unoriginal and left me wondering “when they were going to be over??” rather then “how much more!?” The mash-ups lacked a certain spark and left me unimpressed throughout the whole movie.

So while Pitch Perfect 2 will fill up theaters with eager audiences, it will ultimately leave them feeling empty in the inside after such a disappointing sequel. And you may think it’s easy for me to lash out on a movie like this, but I genuinely seem to enjoy movies like this and wanted to give this movie a chance, but I just couldn’t…….thanks Fat Amy.

Honest Movie Experience: The first film had a cliched storyline, but was made special with hilarious characters and entertaining music. This time around the story, characters and music are all cliche and acca-disappointing.